Goals: Luna 13 was to land on Moon and characterize the lunar surface.

Accomplishments: Like January's Luna 9, December's Luna 13 came to a rough but survivable landing in the Ocean of Storms region of the Moon. The scientific capsule was ejected less than one second before the main spacecraft crashed at 30 km/h. Equipped with instruments its predecessor did not carry, Luna 13 not only returned 5 panoramic photos of the landscape at different sun angles, but also measured the soil's physical and mechanical properties and its radiation characteristics. One of the two cameras intended to create stereo images failed, but the pictures the working camera provided were good.